Attorney general nominee William Barr made comments at his confirmation hearing this week about hypotheticals that sound an awful lot like what President Donald Trump did when he reportedly told Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his Moscow Trump Tower dealings.

Based on his testimony Tuesday, Barr considers Trump’s actions obstruction of justice.

Klobuchar asked Barr if the President telling someone to commit perjury would be obstruction of justice; Barr said yes. She asked if the President convincing someone to alter their testimony would be perjury; Barr said yes.

Here’s what Barr said to Klobuchar about the President telling a witness to commit perjury/alter his or her testimony pic.twitter.com/qtYfmxEh8R

In a similar vein, Graham asked if it would be obstruction of justice if the President “coached” a witness not to testify or to lie; Barr said yes. Graham asked if it would qualify as obstruction of justice if the President tried to hide evidence; Barr said yes.

According to Buzzfeed News, the outlet which broke the Cohen story, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence from witnesses and internal emails that Trump directed Cohen to lie about the length of time he had been pursuing the Moscow project.

Kate Riga (@Kate_Riga24)
is a newswriter for TPM and a contributor to the Josh Marshall Podcast, based in New York City. A Philadelphia native, Kate graduated from Georgetown University and previously worked as a political reporter at the Southampton Press in New York.